Machine having grippers for shaping, folding and pressing collars

ABSTRACT

A machine to be used in the treatment of shirt collars. The machine has a stationary head against which a collar is to be placed during treatment thereof. A pair of elongated grippers are symmetrically arranged with respect to the latter head, and the head is situated between these grippers. A support structure supports the grippers for swinging movement toward and away from the head, while a suitable drive coacts with the grippers for simultaneously moving them toward and away from the head, a fluid-pressure unit coacting with the driving structure to actuate the latter to move the grippers toward and away from the head at the will of the operator of the machine.

United States Patent [191 Rosner MACHINE HAVING GRIPPERS FOR SHAPING, FOLDING AND PRESSING COLLARS [75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: G. Rosner & CIA LTDA, Sao Paulo,

Brazil [22] Filed: Feb. 7, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 224,204

Gunther Rosner, Sao Paulo, Brazil Dec. 25, 1973 Primary ExaminerGeo. V. Larkin Att0rneyl-larold D. Steinberg et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A machine to be used in the treatment of shirt collars. The machine has a stationary head against which a collar is to be placed during treatment thereof. A pair of elongated grippers are symmetrically arranged with respect to the latter head, and the head is situated between these grippers. A support structure supports the grippers for swinging movement toward and away from the head, while a suitable drive coacts with the grippers for simultaneously moving them toward and away from the head, a fluid-pressure unit coacting with the driving structure to actuate the latter to move the grippers toward and away from the head at the will of the operator of the machine.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures I MACHlNEHA-VING GRIPPERS FOR SHAPING, FOLDING ANDPRESSING COLLA-RS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The. present inventionrelates to machines to beused in the treatment of articlessuch as garments in the nature of shirts, particularly at the collars thereof. At the present time, conventional machines which are used forshaping, folding,.and pressing collars leave much to be. desired in connection with the efficiency of the machinesand' their output.

Thus, conventionalmanhines of thistype are already obsoleteand are not properly designed to bring about the desired operations, such as collar shaping, for example, with an output'which is satisfactory, because these machines are in general provided with structure capable only of shaping one half of the collar at one time..As.a.result-in order to'treat the entire collar it becomes necessary to carry out several operations on a single collar.

In addition, conventional machines of this type have grippers and heads withwhich the grippers cooperate, but due to the limited extent of operations which can be performed by these conventional structures it is essential to provide such machines with a plurality of heads and grippers cooperating therewith so that the efficient performance ofithemachine is undesirably affected and the output is undesirably low.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a machine which will avoid the above drawbacks.

I'nparticular, it isan object of the present invention to providesa machine which willoperate far more efficiently than conventional machines, with an increased output, while at the same time achieving superior resultsinsofar as the quality of the work on the article is concerned;

Thus, it is an object of'the invention to provide a machine which will avoid all of the complications involved with conventional machines.

lnparticular, it is an object of the invention to provide a machine which is capable of carrying out the desired operations'on an article such as a shirt collar in one. single operation.

In. particular, it" is an object of the present invention toprovidea machine of the above type which does not require a plurality of heads and grippers coacting th'erewith,.b.ut instead is capable of achieving all of the desired results in a highly effective manner with a single head and apair of grippers cooperating therewith.

Thus, in accordance with the present invention it is an object to provide a machine'which is far simpler and at thesame time. more efficient and capable of performingabetter job than conventional machines.

In addition, it is an object of the invention to provide amachine with components which when worn can easily be replaced.

According to. the invention the machine includes a stationary head, which need be the only 'head for the entire. machine. In addition the machine has a pair of elongated. grippers which are symmetrically arranged with respect to the head and between which the head is located. 'A support means supports the grippers for swinging toward andaway from'thehead, while a moving'means coacts with the grippers for simultaneously moving the latter toward and away from-the head. A fluid-pressure means coacts with the moving meansfor actuating the latter to move the grippers toward and away from the head at the will of the operator of the machine. t

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now tothe drawing, and to FIGS. 1 and 2, in particular, it will be seen that the machine of themvention, which is designed to shape, fold and press shir-t' collars, includesa fluid-'pressure means which is made up ofapiston 2 capable of reciprocating within a cylin der l6.

The piston 2 is in turn connected with a moving means,.and this moving means includes a moving member l which has a tapered portion directed downwardly, as viewed in FIG. I. This-moving member 1 is shown in FIG. 4 in solid and dotted lines respectively in its forwardand rear positions. An elongated member 5 which has a front threaded end extends through and beyond the moving member 1. The member 5 is fixed directly to the moving member 1 by way of a pair of sleeves or collars 4 which are respectively situated on opposite sides of the rear shoulder of the member 5 which is visible in FIG. 4. These members 4 may include a front elongated spacer ring and a rear threaded nut which is threaded into a threaded interior central bore of the member 1 for fixing the member 5 to the member 1. Thus the member 1 of the moving means will move back and forth with the piston 2 in response to flow of fluid under pressure in the cylinder 16.

A stationary frame 1a has portions supporting the member 1- for reciprocating movement to the right and left, as viewed in the FIG. 3.

The exposed front threaded end of the member 5 which extends forwardly beyond the moving member 1 is threaded into a threaded bore formed in one end of asecond moving member 6. Thus the member 6 will move together with the moving member 1 in response to displacement of the piston 2 within the cylinder 16.

The structure of the invention includes a pair of swingable gripper arms 8. which have the elongated curved configuration clearly illustrated in FIG. 4. At

their ends which are adjacent to the moving member 1 these arms 8 are supported by pivot pins 7 for swinging movement about the axes of these pivot pins 7. The pivot pins 7 are fixedly carried by the supporting frame la. The grippers 8 have rear indented ends directed toward the member 1, as is apparent from FIG. 4, and' the indentation at the rear end of each gripper 8 provides the latter with an inner rear portion mounted on a pivot pin 7 and an outer rear portion. This outer rear portion itself fixedly carries a pin on which aroller9 is supported for free rotary movement. The front tapered surface of moving member 1 engages the rollers 9, of

the pair of grippers 8 on one side of these rollers 9, while the from moving member 6 has a pair of rearwardly directed fingers or arms which respectively engage the rollers 9 at the sides of the latter opposite from the tapered surface of the moving member 1. As a result of this construction the moving members 1 and 6, which form a moving means actuated by the fluidpressure means 2, 16 coact with the rollers 9 to swing the grippers 8 between the solid line position indicated in FIG. 4 and the dotted line position 8a illustrated in FIG. 4.

Situated just in front of the frame la, and fixedly carried thereby so as to be stationary, is a central head 10 of a generally elliptical configuration, as is apparent from FIGS. 1 and 4. The head 10 has a convex surface directed rearwardly toward the member 6 and a pair of opposed curved ends around which the grippers 8 closely extend when the grippers 8 are swung inwardly to the solid line positions shown in FIG. 4. It is to be noted that in this latter. inner position of the grippers 8, the free ends of the latter which are distant from the moving means 1, 6 diverge slightly away from the stationary head 10, and in addition the free ends of the grippers 8 are rounded, as illustrated in FIG. 4. Thus, with the structure of the invention the operator will manipulate the member 14 so as to control the flow of pressure fluid to and from the fluid-pressure means 2, 16 to bring about swinging of the grippers 8 back and forth between the dotted and solid line positions shown in FIG. 4.

In order to further facilitate the handling of a shirt collar the front end region of the head 10, which is distant from the moving member 6, may be formed with an elongated indentation shown in dotted lines in FIG. 4. The head 10 is supported at its bottom end from the frame la in any suitable way so that upwardly of its bottom end the head 10 is free all around its outer periphery. Moreover, the cover is formed with an opening as illustrated in FIG. 3 so that the operator can readily place a shirt collar around the head with the front pointed end of the collar situated, for example, at the region of the front indentation of the head 10. Then the grippers can be swung inwardly to the solid line position where the collar will be pressed against the outer substantially elliptical periphery of the member 10 bringing about the folding and pressing operation in a highly efficient manner requiring only the one head 10 and the two grippers 8 with all of the operations being performed in a single step.

Thus, the shirt with the collar is placed on the machine and the collar is placed around the head 10. Then the piston 2 is driven by the operator first to swing the grippers inwardly toward the head 10 to bring about the pressing operation and then away from the latter,

, the moving means 1, 6 coacting with the rollers 9 to bring about a highly efficient swinging of the grippers 10 simultaneously toward and away from each other. It

will be noted from FIG. 4 that the axis of the piston 2, when projected onto a plane which is normal to the pivots 7, which is in fact the plane of FIG. 4, extends centrally between the head 10 as well as the arms 8 both of which together with the head 10 are symmetrical with respect to this projected axis of the piston, and of course the grippers 8 are symmetrically arranged with respect to the head 10.

The moving member 6 has symmetrically arranged fingers which engage the rollers 9 and the inclined front surfaces of the moving member 1 also are symmetrical and engage the rollers 9 so that through this arrangement the grippers 8 are swung equal and oppositely at all times so that at any position the grippers 8 are symmetrical with respect to the head 10.

With this exceedingly simple structure it is possible without any difficulty to carry out the operations of shaping, folding and pressing collars and the shirts with the entire collar being covered in one single operation so that a high output is achieved with a minimum of inconvenience.

What is claimed is:

I. In a machine for treating articles such as shirt collars and the like, a stationary head, a pair of elongated grippers symmetrically arranged with respect to said head and between which said head is located, support means supporting said grippers for swinging movement toward and away from said head, moving means coacting with said grippers for simultaneously moving the latter toward and away from said head, and fluidpressure means coacting with said moving means for actuating the latter to move said grippers toward and away from said heat at the will of the operator of the machine, said head being of a generally elliptical configuration, said grippers respectively being in the form of curved elongated members which respectively extend closely along opposed curved ends of said head when said grippers are displaced inwardly toward the latter, said grippers respectively having free ends distant from said support means and respectively having opposed ends at said support means, said support means including pivot pins coacting with said opposed ends of said grippers to support the latter for swinging movement, said grippers respectively carrying rollers adjacent said pivot pins, said moving means including a reciprocating member engaging said rollers and actuated by said fluid-pressure means for swinging said grippers about said pivots inwardly toward and outwardly away from said head, said reciprocating member of said moving means having a tapered portion extending between said rollers and having tapered surfaces respectively engaging said rollers.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said head has a convex curvature at a side thereof directed toward said pivot pins while at an opposed side said head is formed with an elongated indentation. 

1. In a machine for treating articles such as shirt collars and the like, a stationary head, a pair of elongated grippers symmetrically arranged with respect to said head and between which said head is located, support means supporting said grippers for swinging movement toward and away from said hEad, moving means coacting with said grippers for simultaneously moving the latter toward and away from said head, and fluidpressure means coacting with said moving means for actuating the latter to move said grippers toward and away from said heat at the will of the operator of the machine, said head being of a generally elliptical configuration, said grippers respectively being in the form of curved elongated members which respectively extend closely along opposed curved ends of said head when said grippers are displaced inwardly toward the latter, said grippers respectively having free ends distant from said support means and respectively having opposed ends at said support means, said support means including pivot pins coacting with said opposed ends of said grippers to support the latter for swinging movement, said grippers respectively carrying rollers adjacent said pivot pins, said moving means including a reciprocating member engaging said rollers and actuated by said fluid-pressure means for swinging said grippers about said pivots inwardly toward and outwardly away from said head, said reciprocating member of said moving means having a tapered portion extending between said rollers and having tapered surfaces respectively engaging said rollers.
 2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said head has a convex curvature at a side thereof directed toward said pivot pins while at an opposed side said head is formed with an elongated indentation. 